80+ comments but nobody wanted a call
I’ve seen a lot of Reddit posts about solopreneur loneliness, lack of accountability and difficulty staying on track while building alone... The discussions often get many comments so the pain is clearly real!
I’m exploring whether this could become a useful product direction. I also know this problem personally and I’ve had a positive experience for more than two years using an accountability system for life goals with a friend.
I thought Reddit would be a good place to start validation. My initial idea was: before building anything, first validate the problem properly and understand what kind of solution would actually help. So I started with a post in r/Entrepreneur and it got 80+ comments and a lot of useful insight. I had a few DMs with commenters and at first this looked promising.
But here’s what broke my initial expectations - so far nobody agreed to a deeper conversation or a short call.
That made me realize something important: strong discussion does not automatically mean strong validation. People may genuinely relate to the pain, but still not care enough to spend 20-30 minutes discussing it more deeply.
So now I’m shifting more effort toward interviews with people I know from my network. Also toward builders I meet in person in coworking spaces or at founder/startup events.
Of course I’m tempted to just build something quickly and see what happens. It’s easier than ever to do that! But I still think there’s a real risk of building something around a pain that is vague, weak or solved in the wrong way.
My current question is - when people clearly resonate with a problem in public but won’t invest 20-30 minutes to discuss it more deeply, how do you interpret that?
Is it usually:
- real pain, wrong channel
- real pain, but not painful enough to act on
- real pain, wrong audience
- or a sign that it’s time to build something small anyway and validate with it
- something totally different?
Yeah, that refinement is the right one. "Tried it, it broke, and they still care" is the part that actually predicts whether someone shows up or pays.
The ones who tried nothing are usually fine living with the pain. The ones who tried something and quietly gave up are the ones still carrying it.
If you can get a few of them to describe what broke, you'll probably hear the real product in their own words.
That's where I'm headed, a few conversations with people who can describe exactly what broke should be more useful than another round of public posts. Appreciate the refinement - it sharpens the filter considerably!
Good luck with the conversations. If a pattern shows up in how they describe what broke, that repeated phrase is usually your positioning handed to you for free.
Spectators vs. people who changed behavior - useful frame, much cleaner read than comment volume.
One thing I found in that thread though: a lot of commenters had already tried something around accountability partners. The problem they kept naming wasn't finding a partner, it was that the partnership broke down over time usually because of lack of structure. This is a useful signal. Actually I tried talking with such people but they didn't turn into good validation conversations - probably because "it kind of works sometimes" is enough to take the edge off the pain.
So I'd refine the filter slightly: not just "tried something" but "tried it and it stopped working and they're still looking." That's who has live pain, not just historical pain.
Your question "what did you try and why did it stop working" is a good filter for exactly that.
Comments measure relatability, not urgency.
People will happily agree with “building alone is lonely” because agreeing costs nothing. The stronger signal is whether they already changed their behavior because of the pain.
I’d look back at the 80 comments and separate spectators from people describing a workaround: accountability calls, Discord groups, spreadsheets, paid communities, anything they already tried.
Those are the people worth contacting.
Also, “jump on a call” is a big ask for an ambient pain. I’d start smaller:
“What did you try last time you fell off track, and why did it stop working?”
If even that gets silence, the pain may be real, but not sharp enough yet.
This is a great insight — strong engagement doesn’t always translate into real commitment.
From my experience, this usually signals real pain, but not urgent enough to act on, especially in async platforms like Reddit. People resonate emotionally in the moment, but a call requires time, effort, and priority — which filters out casual interest.
Your shift toward direct conversations (network, coworking, events) is a smart move. That’s where intent is much stronger.
One approach you might consider is lowering the friction:
– offer a 5–10 minute async format (voice notes, short form, or chat)
– or test a very small, tangible prototype instead of abstract discussion
I’m also exploring similar ideas around builder accountability and collaboration. If you (or anyone here) are open to experimenting, sharing insights, or co-building lightweight solutions, feel free to join:
https://teams.live.com/l/invite/FAAk3iOSJkDyS11JQE?v=g1
Would be great to connect with others thinking in this space.
Thanks, this is a thoughtful reply.
I think you’re probably right that part of the issue is friction... Public discussion seems useful for resonance and language but asking for a call is already a much bigger step.
I’m now thinking more about lower friction follow-up options and possibly building something small/tangible instead of keeping it at the abstract discussion level.
I also tried the Teams link but it just dropped me into my general chats, so I couldn’t really tell what it was meant to lead to.
https://teams.live.com/l/invite/FAAk3iOSJkDyS11JQE?v=g1